Welcome to issue no. 6 of Foodstuff

January 19, 1998

In this issue:

Super Bowl Party Recipes

Cookbook Review

L.A. Restaurant Review

Destination: San Diego for Super Bowl XXXII on Sunday, January 25, 1998. The Broncos will represent the AFC after holding off the Steelers 24-21 in the conference championship game. The defending Super Bowl champion Packers earned a return trip to the big game with a dominating 23-10 victory over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.

Are you football fans ready for the big game? If you plan on watching Super Bowl XXXII, there's a good chance you'll be enjoying time spent with family and friends, entertaining guests or bringing a dish to a pot luck. Whatever your may be doing, you can make your game day a festive occasion by choosing from this list, taken from Prodigy Internet's Food Community, of crowd-pleasing dishes. For more recipes, see the HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS topic on Foodstuff. (I know Super Bowl isn't really a holiday, but lots of football fans think it is!)

Preheated oven to
425°F. In a shallow dish whisk together the butter, the mustard, and the cayenne. In another shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, the Parmesan, the cumin, and salt and black pepper to taste. Dip the chicken wings, a few at a time, in the butter mixture, letting the excess drip off, coat them with the crumb mixture, and arrange them without touching in a greased, shallow baking pan. Bake the chicken wings in the lower third of oven for 30 minutes. (If extra-crisp chicken wings are desired, turn the wings after 20 minutes.)

Prick the potatoes a few times with a fork and bake them in the middle of a preheated 425°F. oven for 1 hour. Let the potatoes cool, halve them lengthwise, and scoop them out, leaving a 1/4-inch shell and reserving the potato pulp for another use. Cut each shell lengthwise into 6 strips and arrange the strips on a baking sheet. Brush the strips with olive oil, sprinkle them with paprika, the salt, and pepper to taste, and bake them in the middle of the preheated 425°F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown. Serve the potato skins with sour cream.

Preheated oven to 350°F. Arrange the bagel slices in one layer on 2 large baking sheets. In a blender purée the rosemary and the garlic mixture with the oil until the mixture is smooth. Brush the slices with the mixture, sprinkle them with the salt, and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden.

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in cumin and oregano and cook 1 minute. Mix in beans and chilies, then chicken broth and water. Simmer until beans are very tender and chili is creamy, about 1 hour 45 minutes or
less. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Return to simmer before continuing.)

Add chicken to chili and stir until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Ladle chili into bowls. Garnish with yogurt, cilantro and minced chilies and serve immediately.6 Servings.

In food processor, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, powdered sugar and butter that has been cut into small chunks. Pulse to combine ingredients until mixture resembles fine crumbs. (This also can be done by hand using a pastry blender.) Press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove crust from oven and increase temperature to 350°F.

In separate bowl, combine sugar, remaining 6 tablespoons flour and baking powder. Stir into egg mixture. Pour mixture over the baked crust and return to oven. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center springs back when touched. Let cool 15 minutes. Put powdered sugar in sieve and sprinkle over top of bars. Cut into squares when completely cool.

Makes 36 to 40 bars.

NEW COOKBOOK

Are you looking for some great new low fat recipes? To take real control of your new and healthier way of eating, you have to take control of your food preparation. Without a large variety and plenty of choices, you'll tire of low fat eating within days and leave your good intentions behind. That's the idea behind the cookbook, EXCEED THE FEED LIMIT Without Getting Caught, by Vicki Park. Vicki herself lost 180 pounds when she learned that it is possible to enjoy all her favorite foods from steak to cheesecake while losing weight and eating healthier. Here are a few recipes from Vicki's book:

Saute the steaks in a skillet that have been coated with no-stick cooking spray for 5
minutes per side. Remove them to a baking dish. Place the potatoes around the meat. Combine
the onion soup and water. Pour over the meat and potatoes. Cover and bake at 350°F for45 minutes. Four servings, 5 fat grams per serving.

Combine the sour cream, lemon juice, garlic powder, light salt and pepper. Coat breasts
with the mixture. After coating, roll each breast in the crumbs. Place the chicken in a baking dish
that has been coated with no-stick cooking spray. Lightly spray each breast with cooking
spray. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes at 400°F. Six servings, 5 fat grams per serving.

This book retails for $16.95 and is available at most bookstores, or by calling 1-800-980-7275

RESTAURANT REVIEW

MY LUNCH AT FENIX

One of the reasons that I decided to review Fenix, is that it is one of the most popular and trendy places to go for California Cuisine, and I'm forever reading about it in our local papers and magazines.

Fenix is located inside the Argyle Hotel on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. The hotel is small and absolutely beautiful. I'm sorry I didn't have time to have a room tour because I hear the rooms are very lovely. Our lunch reservation was for 1:30, and when we arrived, we were the only people in the whole place! So, of course, we had the most excellent service. There were three of us: my sister, Judi, her employer, Dianna, and me. Lunch was Dianna's treat, and we were told to order anything we wanted, ANYTHING! Now, before I go on, I will say that had I been paying for my own lunch, I would have just ordered one of the sandwiches, most likely the Seared Ahi Sandwich with Cilantro Pesto, at $13, or the Roast Turkey Sandwich with Light Curry Slaw at $11.50. But again, this was a special treat, so without further ado...

We started with Rare Sesame Crusted Tuna with Spicy Miso Sauce ($12), Popcorn Shrimp with Cajun Remoulade ($9), Vegetable Spring Rolls ($8) and Russian Osetra Caviar ($29). It was all wonderful, but the Vegetable Spring Rolls were about 10 times better than Wolfgang Puck's. Our entrees, which we all shared, were: Porcini Crusted Scallops with Lobster Crushed Potatoes ($14), Grilled Swordfish with Tapenade and Grilled Vegetables (14.95) and Fettucine with Crème Fraiche, Smoked Salmon and Chives ($12). All fantastic, but the scallops were the best of the three.

For dessert (don't ask how we fit it in!) we enjoyed: Spiced Apple in a Phyllo Purse with Crème Anglaise, Espresso Profiterolles with Valrohna Equatorialle Sauce, and Warm Pear Feuillete with Caramel Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream. Each dessert was $8.

Dianna ordered a couple of champagne cocktails, and Judi and I both had a bottle of water. The bill was somewhere around $200. (I did peek.)

I highly recommend Fenix.

NEXT TIME IN FOODSTUFF: Trendy Fois Gras recipes, all about Debbie's new cookbook and related media tour, and another review from a great L.A. restaurant